1. Field of the invention
The invention concerns a roof opening and closing device, in particular for an automobile vehicle having a roof with an opening formed in it, comprising a pair of guide rails fixed to the top of the roof one on each side of the opening, a front carriage pair and a rear carriage pair adapted to be moved in longitudinal translation in the guide rails by a pair of cables, a panel mobile in translation relative to the surface of the roof and a mechanism for articulating the panel relative to the surface of the roof functionally related to the carriages to uncover or close the opening by sliding of the panel over the surface of the roof, the panel having a front end and a rear end.
2. Description of the prior art
As a general rule, a roof opening and closing device of this kind is fixed directly to the top of the roof of a vehicle during manufacture or as an adaptation. In such roof opening and closing devices a seal runs around the edge of the opening in the roof to seal the opening in the roof closed position.
Until now, in known roof opening and closing devices, the carriage guide rails have had a curved front end to raise the front end of the panel to separate it from the seal while a slide causes the rear of the mobile panel to pivot in order to slide it across the roof. A known device of this kind is described in the document FR-8907941. Apart from the fact that the curvature of the rails increases the thickness of the roof opening and closing device, the panel tends to rub against the seal at the start of the sliding movement of the panel across the roof. This repeated rubbing of the panel against the seal damages the surface of the seal in time and causes an unpleasant noise.
Consequently, an objective of the invention is to alleviate these drawbacks and in particular to prevent the panel rubbing against the seal during sliding of the panel across the roof.
Essentially, the invention resides in a roof opening and closing device in which the panel is raised and slid by two pairs of skids joined to the panel functionally related to the two pairs of carriages sliding in the rails, the carriages determining the kinematics of the skids and therefore of the panel so as to raise the latter vertically in a first stage over the seal around the edge of the opening in the roof, with no horizontal movement in translation of the panel, which is then slid across the roof from this raised position. The panel is therefore separated from the seal without rubbing against the latter when it is moved away from the opening in the roof.